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About The Walrus

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The Walrus counts on its writers to make independent evaluations of difficult topics. The best journalism—no matter how descriptive, opinion driven, or narrative driven—is based on facts, and those facts should be clearly presented in the story. The Walrus is committed to ensuring the validity of an argument and finding balance between various perspectives on any given issue, while keeping in mind the reliability and motivations of individual sources.

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As soon as The Walrus is made aware of an error, fact-checkers will review the statement in question. Any needed corrections will be noted online at the bottom of the article—and in the next print issue, if the error originally appeared in print. The correction will reference the original error and supply the correct information and the date.
If you notice an error in something published by The Walrus, please send us a message at web@thewalrus.ca with the subject line “Correction.”

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The Walrus allows the use of alternate names for real people only in cases involving legitimate safety concerns or where personal privacy must be protected for serious reasons. If the name of a subject or source is already public and associated with specific events, concealment may not be justified. We will be diligent in explaining a veiled source’s credibility, as much as possible without disclosing their identity, and in explaining why they have remained anonymous.

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Journalism at The Walrus is produced independently of commercial or political interests. The editorial staff and writers do not accept gifts, including paid travel, in order to avoid any conflict of interest or appearance thereof. When a writer relies on an organization for access to an event or product, we are transparent about the relationship and note it within the relevant work. We also cite potential conflicts of interest—and, where applicable, credit funding sources—on the same page as the relevant work.

Contributors or writers are contractually obligated to disclose practices that may deviate from the ethics policy of The Walrus to our editorial team.

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The Walrus maintains a style guide, which is regularly reviewed and updated to reflect current conversations about culture and terminology.

For any situation not covered by this policy, we refer to the Ethics Guidelines of the Canadian Association of Journalists.

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Inclusiveness is at the heart of thinking and acting as journalists—and supports the educational mandate of The Walrus. Race, class, generation, gender, sexual orientation, ability, and geography all affect point of view. The Walrus believes that reflecting societal differences in reporting leads to better, more nuanced stories and a better-informed community.

The Walrus is committed to employment equity and diversity.

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About The Walrus

The Walrus was founded in 2003. As a registered charity, we publish independent, fact-based journalism in The Walrus and at thewalrus.ca; we produce national, ideas-focused events, including our flagship series The Walrus Talks; and we train emerging professionals in publishing and non-profit management. The Walrus is invested in the idea that a healthy society relies on informed citizens.

The Walrus publishes content nearly every day on thewalrus.ca and ten times a year in print. Our editorial priorities include politics and world affairs, health and science, society, the environment, law and justice, Indigenous issues, business and economics, the arts (including music, dance, film and television, literature, and fiction and poetry), and Canada’s place in the world.

Based in Toronto, The Walrus currently has a full-time editorial staff of fifteen, and we work with writers and artists across Canada and the world. Our masthead can be found here.

Ownership, Funding, and Grants

The Walrus is operated by the charitable, non-profit Walrus Foundation, which is overseen by a board of directors, with the support of a national advisory committee and an educational review committee. The foundation’s revenue comes from multiple sources, including advertising sales, sponsorships, circulation, donations, government grants, and events. More than 1,500 donors and sponsors supported The Walrus in 2017.

Ethics Policy

The Walrus is committed to reporting that is fair, accurate, complete, transparent, and independent.

Fact-Checking Standards
Stories that appear in The Walrus and thewalrus.ca are fact-checked. Our fact-checkers verify everything from broad claims made by authors to small details, such as dates and the spelling of names. Fact-checking records at The Walrus are archived in storage once a story is published.

The Walrus counts on its writers to make independent evaluations of difficult topics. The best journalism—no matter how descriptive, opinion driven, or narrative driven—is based on facts, and those facts should be clearly presented in the story. The Walrus is committed to ensuring the validity of an argument and finding balance between various perspectives on any given issue, while keeping in mind the reliability and motivations of individual sources.

Corrections
As soon as The Walrus is made aware of an error, fact-checkers will review the statement in question. Any needed corrections will be noted online at the bottom of the article—and in the next print issue, if the error originally appeared in print. The correction will reference the original error and supply the correct information and the date.
If you notice an error in something published by The Walrus, please send us a message at web@thewalrus.ca with the subject line “Correction.”

Veiled Sources
The Walrus allows the use of alternate names for real people only in cases involving legitimate safety concerns or where personal privacy must be protected for serious reasons. If the name of a subject or source is already public and associated with specific events, concealment may not be justified. We will be diligent in explaining a veiled source’s credibility, as much as possible without disclosing their identity, and in explaining why they have remained anonymous.

Editorial Independence
Journalism at The Walrus is produced independently of commercial or political interests. The editorial staff and writers do not accept gifts, including paid travel, in order to avoid any conflict of interest or appearance thereof. When a writer relies on an organization for access to an event or product, we are transparent about the relationship and note it within the relevant work. We also cite potential conflicts of interest—and, where applicable, credit funding sources—on the same page as the relevant work.

Contributors or writers are contractually obligated to disclose practices that may deviate from the ethics policy of The Walrus to our editorial team.

Editorial Standards
The Walrus maintains a style guide, which is regularly reviewed and updated to reflect current conversations about culture and terminology.

For any situation not covered by this policy, we refer to the Ethics Guidelines of the Canadian Association of Journalists.

Diversity Statement

Inclusiveness is at the heart of thinking and acting as journalists—and supports the educational mandate of The Walrus. Race, class, generation, gender, sexual orientation, ability, and geography all affect point of view. The Walrus believes that reflecting societal differences in reporting leads to better, more nuanced stories and a better-informed community.

The Walrus is committed to employment equity and diversity.

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“Cause and Effect” by Lynn Cunningham (October 2009).

The ringer on my phone for calls from Andrew is called “Blues.” So far today, I have heard its tinkly tone twice, about average. The first time, he asked if I’d pony up for a music lesson this weekend; I said yes, although I periodically reflect that the monthly cost of his lessons could cover the lease for a Mercedes. The second had to do with a detail related to his special-needs status as a community college student. Oh, and he wouldn’t be coming home this weekend.

In October 2009, I wrote about my step-grandson—my kid, Boop—in “Cause and Effect.” He was seventeen. Now he is twenty-two, and an extraordinary success story for someone born with permanent brain damage from fetal alcohol syndrome. Unlike a tragically high proportion of young adults with FAS, he’s not in jail, he’s not an alcoholic or a drug addict, he’s not on the street. And now, having graduated from high school (an accomplishment in itself), he’s not living at home either.

Andrew’s new digs are in the student ghetto close to York University in Toronto, also home to a satellite campus of Seneca College. There, he is enrolled in a program called independent music production, which aims to teach musicians how to turn their avocation into something approaching a living (presumably sans Mercedes). The business course is giving him trouble—he’s flummoxed by an assignment that involves completing a grant application—but he seems to be soaring at songwriting. The kid who spent his entire school career in special ed classes turns out to have a gift for oddly spelled but sensitive lyrics set to sweet blues melodies.

I concluded “Cause and Effect” with the question “Who knows what larger dreams he’s conjuring? ” The answer, it seems, is styling himself “Drew” and trying to become a professional musician. I have seen no evidence that his imaginings encompass keeping the kitchen under control. When he’s home on weekends, the place looks as if four or five episodes of Top Chef Masters were just shot there.

Part of my role in Andrew’s new life is to provide a wake-up service. Weekday mornings, my alarm alerts me at 8 a.m.—time to get him up for class. He has two alarm clocks in his room but hasn’t worked out how to set either one. The rest of the time, I’m the human Google on the end of the phone: “Nana, will the 106 bus stop at my street? ” “Nana, how do you do an online course? ”

His calls can make for amusing anecdotes, but there is a chilling bit of math behind them. Conventional wisdom in FAS circles says that those with the syndrome operate at two-thirds of their chronological age. By that reckoning, he won’t be functioning like a twenty-five-year-old until he turns thirty-eight. That puts me at close to eighty, an age neither of my parents attained. Could the child of my heart continue to live his happy life and write his songs if I were not here to backstop him, advise him, help him go in the right direction, sometimes literally?

Meanwhile, “Blues” sounds again: “Nana, I need some metaphors.”

This appeared in the May 2013 issue.

About the Author(s)

Lynn Cunningham was honoured for outstanding achievement by the National Magazine Awards Foundation in 1999.

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